December 28, 2008

Munchausen syndrome is a psychiatric "disorder in which those affected fake disease, illness, or psychological trauma in order to draw attention or sympathy to themselves." By proxy means that the injury is inflicted on a related third party, usually a child or spouse.

I use an excellent short essay about Munchausen syndrome in my Composition class: "The Munchausen Mystery" by Don Lipsitt. I found a copy here (page 11) although it is usually located in English Readers (so some copyright somewhere is probably being infringed).